Home > Schools not bully-proof: Many districts’ plans graded ‘incomplete’

Schools not bully-proof: Many districts’ plans graded ‘incomplete’

Jessica FargenSunday, July 24, 2011

With the start of classes on the horizon, nearly 30 school districts have anti-bullying plans that don’t comply with a strict new law aimed at protecting students from harm and even death by bullies in hallways and online, a Herald review found.

“I’m extremely concerned about it,” said Patricia Gardner, director of the Center for Teacher and Education Research at Westfield State University. “Because it’s an unfunded mandate and there’s no monitoring system, people feel like they can get a pass on it for a while.”

Lackluster districts are playing with fire, she said.

“Districts that don’t complete them, they open themselves up to huge litigation,” she said.

Nearly 200 districts were notified as early as March — nearly five months ago — that their plans were incomplete. Yet 29 still have inadequate plans, according to state data released late last week.

More than 85 percent of incomplete plans failed to include three elements: strategies for counseling families of victims and bullies, mechanisms to get parents information on bullying, and discipline for students who make false accusations, said state education spokesman J.C. Considine.

Among the findings from the Herald review:

• Twenty-four of 162 school districts that submitted incomplete plans are still missing less than one-quarter of the crucial anti-bullying elements required by law, including Natick, Winthrop and Framingham.

• Five other districts are still missing more than a quarter of the required elements in their plans, including Montachusett Regional Vocational Technical and Adams-Cheshire.

All told, nearly 10 percent of 357 school superintendents of public and charter schools have incomplete plans with school just over a month away.

Meanwhile, two dozen formal complaints alleging bullying have been filed this year with the Education Department.

Completion of the plans fell between the cracks at some schools and within the Education Department.

Two superintendents said they were not notified their plans were incomplete until Friday, after a Herald inquiry.

“Why didn’t the department call up everybody two months ago and ask the question: ‘Where is it?’ ” said Medford Superintendent Roy Belson, who stood by his 23-page plan. “It’s a very complete plan. It’s very detailed.”

Adams-Cheshire Regional Superintendent Al Skrocki also learned Friday the district’s plan was incomplete. He said the district mistakenly sent a four-page policy, rather than the 32-page plan. “If there’s something we have to do, we’ll do it,” he said.

The push to force schools to create anti-bullying plans came in the wake of the suicide of South Hadley High student and Irish immigrant Phoebe Prince, who hanged herself after she was relentlessly tormented by classmates.

Sen. Stanley Rosenberg (D-Amherst), who represents South Hadley, urged districts to comply for the safety of their students.

“The plan is supposed to be the road map to protect these children,” he said, “and it really is not a good situation if any school opens without a plan that’s not fully developed.”

For a complete list of school districts with incomplete plans, go to bostonherald.com.